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Last year the Avonworth High School Concert Band went to their first-ever adjudication where they were judged on two of their pieces for the year and one sight read song. They came home at the end of the day with a “Superior” rating from all four of the judges.
This year they did it again.
Going in with high hopes based on their previous achievement the band performed two songs even harder than the ones from before. The selections were “The Hounds of Spring” by Alfred Reed and “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” by Richard Wagner. Both of the pieces were meant for college-level bands. However, the Concert Band came through with a stunning performance gaining the highest rating from all four judges.
When we asked Mr. Guess, the band director, about why he chose to go for college-level pieces for the adjudication he said that “when you have the horses to do something great you should go for it. It is very much like sports when you have a good team you really go for the gold.” He reviewed the day saying that he thought it went well and that everyone was more relaxed than last year. “We knew that we were up for the challenge,” he said with confidence.
Students reviewed the day in a very similar way. Emilia Houser, a 10th-grade flute player, said that she thought the performance of “The Hounds of Spring” and “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” went very well. She did not have the same confidence in the sight reading portion of the adjudication but was ultimately very happy with the ratings.
10th-grade Trumpet player Eli King said that he likes going to the adjudications to see how he can improve as an instrumentalist. The ratings, he says, are not as important to him although it is always nice to get a good score.
